


The Work of a Proxy

by Eldritch_Cutie



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom
Genre: Ben's a stoner and so is pretty much everyone else, Canon-Typical Behavior, Canon-Typical Violence, Creepy Fluff, CreepyPasta Mansion, Creepypasta, Drugs, Found Family, Implied/Referenced Abortion, Multi, Unplanned Pregnancy, Violence, Weed, fuck yeah, in 2020, sorry - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:13:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 18
Words: 15,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26811958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eldritch_Cutie/pseuds/Eldritch_Cutie
Summary: The work of a proxy is a world of hell but an understanding hell most of the time.You can't choose your family, but that doesn't mean a tall faceless entity in a suit can't. These people have unfortunately known each other for most of their lives and humans are fickle things Ą̷̼̺̜̮̞̙̠͙̘͋̊̓̿̏͑̄̇̊̆̕͠R̸̡̦͇̱̤͗̏̂̾͑̒͛̚͜͝E̸͕͕̦̋̏̏̑́͝Ṉ̶̻̘̫̦͇̲̗̮̓͌̆̆̊͠ͅ'̷̧̢̯͈͖̓̓̍̍̂͌̽͝ͅT̴̤̼̥͔̺̘̒͑̐̓͋̆͆̓͒͑͘ ̸̝̊̋̊̓̒Ṫ̴̟̌̑͐̑̒̊̑H̷͖̑͊̄͒̇̈́̈́̂̕Ę̸̢̬͚͖̟̟͍̘̻̳̞̭̌̈́̀̄̄̂͒̒̿̈̈́̓̏͘͜͠Y̵̧̮͈̟̻̤̹͇͌͂͑͛̋̍́̇͂͊͜͜?
Relationships: (IMPLIED), Nina Hopkins | Nina the Killer/Jeffrey Woods | Jeff the Killer, Toby Rogers | Ticci Toby/natalie ouillette | clockwork (past), brian thomas | hoodie/tim wright | masky (implied), other dubious flirts between "not friends"
Comments: 8
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

Jeff pushed the money into Nina’s hand, it was 5:48 and they had stopped to gas up the car and get something to satiate the hunger that comes from 3 hours on the road. Ben was asleep in the backseat he would be taking first watch that night but it didn’t matter. The girl in the old purple hoodie already knew what the other boys would want without them speaking a word of instructions. She went inside and picked up a Red Bull and two Slim Jims for Jeff, two mountain dew Kickstarts and a family sized bag of cool ranch doritos for Ben, and a pink Monster for her with some peach rings. For once the cashier doesn’t stare at her, doesn’t bother her or think she’s strange at all. Behind the government sancted cloth mask she smiles, and retrieves the $50 that Jeff gave her from inside her fishnet glove to hand it to the man. He then lifts it up to check if it’s real and Nina rolls her eyes, when would people learn to be more trusting of scene kids?! “The rest on 3 please.” she says as she gathers up her goods and leaves the store.  
Once at the car, she opens the back door, places the mountain dews on the car floor, and chucks the Doritos directly in the sleeping cyber-demons face. “Dinner!” She yells, Ben groans and slowly pushes himself to a sitting position. “Sick,” Without further words he opens the bag and begins eating. Jeff is leaning on the car as the tank fills up, Nina drops off her things in the passenger seat and makes her way over to him and he ignores her. She lifts up the back of his hoodie slightly exposing some skin with intent of hitting him with the cold beverage before a gruff “Don’t.” stops her. She smiles, a genuine smile this time around, and snaps her fingers “Dratz! You’ve foiled my evil scheme!” He breathes sharply through his nose, this tells the girl he’s in a better mood then normal, this was new. 

“Anything happen while I was in there?” She asks him as she hands him his drink, he takes it. “It’s just cool we don’t have to send Ben anymore.” He cracks open the drink and pulls down his mask to sip it. “With the hood and mask, it’s almost like we're normal.” Nina huffed and put her hands on her hips, “I think normal is relative.” Jeff chuckled, “I think you shouldn’t pick normal at sixteen.” Nina swiveled her head from side to side and said “eh, you’re probably right. But what did we know?” She laughs “We were sixteen!” Jeff smiles behind his mask and puts the nozzle back into the pump. They’re back on the road after Nina gets the change from the gas, with Jeff at the wheel they practically fly to their destination. 

A small town in Maine in an even smaller house there is a young boy, around 14. He was hit by his parents and had violent outbursts at school. The teens in the car knew this fact due to the master they served. A goer of many names, the man without a face had probable plans for this kid if he could withstand the trials ahead of him. The tests were unbeknownst to the child, his life would suffer from it but it would be no skin off the teens sitting in the beat up car in front of the child’s house. “So our target’s the kid?” Jeff asked Nina when they had settled in, she nodded and sat up to look at the house. “Technically it’s the mom, Slenderdad wants us to observe until we have the opportunity to,” she drags her thumb across her throat and Jeff’s smile gets wider. “Alright then,” Says Ben yawning, “Let’s see if this kid’s a gamer. If not creepy stalkings until death threats.” As Jeff and Ben set to work observing and collecting data Nina drifted off to sleep. She sees a familiar scene.


	2. Chapter 2

With the crack of Yoni’s head echoing through her mind Nina bolts up in the backseat. Ben looks up from his computer pulling out his headphone, “hey Nin, you okay?” She takes a few deep breaths before nodding. “Yeah,” she sits up and continues to nod trying to shake away the horrible memories of her first kills. “Uh, you find anything?” Ben nods “Not a gamer so we’re going to have to call in some help. I don’t know if this mission is suited for us.” “It’s suited for us fine!” Jeff yells, “I swear to fuck if you call them for help Ben, I will-” “I’ll delete every save file you have in Super Mario Galaxy 2 bitch!” Nina cut him off, getting in Ben’s face playfully. The car was stuffy with the three of them in there and painfully dark now that the sun had gone down, only lit by the old street lamps that lined the avenue. It was only getting warmer with Ben and Nina giggling like that, smiling at them made Jeff’s face hurt so instead he exited the car. Nina rolled her eyes and slumped back into her seat. Her Monster had gotten warm and she didn’t want it anymore. Was she allowed to have fun anymore? “You know I’m gonna have to call them.” Nina sighs “Yeah I know.” She looks out the window and cringes when she sees Jeff lighting a cigarette, “He’s just going to be so fucking grouchy about it!” “That’s not my fault!” Ben huffs “I can keep him from having tantrums about as well as you can sneak into houses! We aren’t the one’s for this job!” Ben pulls out a throw away phone and dials a number letting the whole car know how unhappy he is with every over exaggerated button press. With another huff the demon boy leans back on the door and holds the phone up to his pointed ears. “Hey.” He pauses letting the other on the phone speak. “No, unfortunately there isn’t anything we can do. Jeff’s still grounded and-” he gets caught off and listens. “Yeah, okay sure.” Ben hangs up and sighs, “They said to stay put, and they’d be here soon.”

The hooded figure across town sighed as he put the phone back into his pocket and got into his car. The two other people already in the car looked to him expectantly, “Jeff’s grounded and Nina can’t climb worth a shit.” The man in the passenger seat grumbled and rubbed his eyes, “The kid doesn’t have any tech that Ben can get into.” The boy in the back seat jumped in between the two men in front, “So we’re going in?” he asked excitedly. The hooded man shoved him into the back seat. “I’m going in, you two are going to take me to them and then find a motel nearby for us all to stay the night in.” “B are motels even open right now? With the fucking bullshit?” The young man popped back up to the front to add “Masky masky masky! It says that they a-are open on the internet!” “Toby please sit back,” The oldest man in the car, the existing personality in the system, or host, of the one formally known as Tim Wright sighed heavily as he gently pushed the younger boy into the backseat again. “Masky” as Toby so lovingly called him was fucking tired, down to every cell was he tired, and the last thing he wanted to do was deal with Jeff Woods’ moody ass all night in a fucking motel room during a fucking pandemic. But regardless his partner was already pulling out of the parking lot they had stopped in and headed towards nothing but trouble.

Jeff had smoked two whole cigarettes while waiting for the inevitable to happen, for the boss to show up and tell him he had a lesson to learn and how easily he could have ended this had he not pissed off the Big Man. Ben and Nina had taken to hotboxing the car, considering edge boy mcstabby wasn’t coming back in anytime soon. “Hard to brood when high as balls,” giggled the demon in the passenger seat.. His eyes are bright red along with his already blinding blue ones he looks like shit. Nina smacks his face softly and tells him this fact, “I tell you this out of love dude.” “You look like shit too Nin. We should fucking take off after Hoodie chews out Jeff.” Nina looks at her hands with a frown, “You think he’s pissed?” “When aren’t they pissed?” Ben crawls over to the drivers side to look at Jeff’s back pressed against the window. “Hey, we might get to see Toby, “Oh yeah we will, dude almost deafened me while shouting through the phone.” He raps his knuckles on the glass and yells “I need air!” through the window, Nina leans back again and closes her eyes.

Jeff moves out of the way to let Ben out in the cold night air. The demon, wearing nothing but a XXXL t-shirt and skinny jeans he stole from the clearance section at a Hot Topic, he didn’t know the band that it depicted but at the time he had just taken the vessel he currently inhabits and that was the only time anyone would see him in a sweater vest. Seriously, what college student wears sweater vests? The cyberdemon thought he was doing him a favor for making that deal. He smiled at Jeff as he shivered and stumbled a bit for comedic effect, he smiled wider when it worked and Jeff smiled back. “How goes it?” Ben offered, Jeff groans “This whole ‘grounded’ bull shit is fucking bull shit!” He throws his cigarette on the floor and grinds it beneath his heel, Ben can almost see Jeff’s fantasy of it being someone’s face but he can’t place who Jeff would blame more. Slenderman had made it perfectly clear that Jeff was not to do the only thing that made him happy. Killing, and it was up to the rest of us to uphold it, they weren’t supposed to be here but Jeff had been chasing any leads of where the Slenderman could be. The upper hands had been hopeful that Ben could assist them without anyone having to enter the home to plant signs for the boy to see, but unfortunately the kid was from a poorer family and didn’t have anything he could grab onto. Ben shivered again and walked closer to Jeff pressing his body against him but he wasn’t much warmer. Jeff pushed him away when a car pulled up behind them, the lights went out and the hooded man exited the car while the other man opened the back door to let out the young man in the backseat.


	3. Chapter 3

“Lmao are you seriously still using child safety locks to keep him in?” Ben snorted as he was smothered in a hug from Toby. He then is immediately punched in the gut by the very boy he just mocked, “When Toby learns that throwing yourself from a moving car is not the way to deal with a panic attack then we will remove the child safety locks.” Masky walks up to meet the other two and snorts at the smell. “Jeez you guys, are you kidding me?” He starts to nag when Jeff puts his hands up in surrender. “Wasn’t fucking me, I’m driving.” At that moment Toby yanks open the door to the back seat and whispers yells Nina’s name before jumping in the car to smother her. Jeff tsks and rolls his eyes while he grabs his eye drops from his pocket and drops a few into each eye. “Thank you all for being here, T and Toby will take you to a motel we’re going to stay at. I would like you all to stay.” Jeff groans loudly again “Are you kidding me? Why do we have to stay with you?” The man in the hoodie sighs deeply, “Can’t I just say because I told you to, Jeffrey?” Jeff scoffs and looks at Ben for support but he just shrugs, “Can I still smoke?” The man formerly known as Brian pulls his frown mask out of his pocket and puts it on, his voice sounds different then it did a moment ago, more robotic in nature and void of emotion. “If it’s in the car and not the room, I don’t give a shit. Now let me work.” There’s the sound of static as the group collectively blinks, the man is no longer standing where he was just a moment ago. “Okay.” The man in the tan jacket huffs and goes over to the open car door that his partner had disappeared into. “Toby. You coming with me or them?” “Them!” Toby calls back and yanks the door closed. “Great.” Mumbles the man, “I love driving alone.” 

Jeff followed T to an ocean themed motel trying to ignore the amount of giggling happening in the background. Those three always acted like fucking children when they were around each other and it pissed Jeff off, but most things did that. “Ow! Toby that fucking hurt!” Nina shoved Toby at Ben who laughed and hugged her in retaliation, they acted this way because they almost never got to see each other. Ever since the Slenderbrothers started fighting the teams were seeing less and less of each other. They had all figured it would pass but this year had been hard, and that was saying something for this crew. He figured they were just trying to be happy and he would do his best to not scream at them to shut the hell up like he wanted to. Jeff knew why B was so pissed, Slender wasn’t going to take in another fucking proxy at a time like this so what the fuck were his best doing in a nowhere town in Maine. Something smells fishy and it wasn’t the fish head knocker on the door of the motel room. The three pushed past Jeff like children on vacation, “Dude there’s a pool!” Nina yells while jumping on one of the beds in the room already, “we can’t N-Nin, the virus shit i-it’s fucking fucking shit” He takes a breath and cracks his head to the side before continuing “It’s closed, because gross ass people u-use it instead of bathing!” Ben throws a pillow at him, “That isn’t true.” Says the demon from the small table in the corner, “It totally is, I s-saw it on Extreme Cheapskates.” T comes in carrying his bag and sets it down, “Toby you need to stop watching all that Youtube you’re running up the bill, Nina get the hell down you’ll disturb the neighbors, Ben get comfy you’re gonna be sleeping on that table tonight.” “Ah sweet!” The demon laughs and places his whole torso on the desk continuing to giggle idly in his stupor. Nina stops jumping on the bed and instead just sits on the end of it beginning to take off her shoes. It wasn’t often she could sleep in a bed so when she could she was going to immediately. She tugs her hood over her head, pulls on the strings so it scrunches it up all tight, and she snuggles under the covers. Jeff watches her do this and chuckles a bit to himself. “You’re fucking weird,” he says at her. She extends her hand upwards raising her left middle finger boldly for him to see he snorts a laugh before looking at the man in the tan jacket. “T, you want a smoke?” He looked at Jeff in disbelief, “I quit Jeff. You know this.” He shakes his head and points at Toby as he begins walking back towards the door. “If B found out about this, God, the amount of trouble Toby would be in.” Jeff laughs and follows the older man through the door. “It’d be enormous!”

Jeff and Masky hang out in the parking lot by the cars while the terrible duo of Ben and Toby tear the hotel bathroom apart while blasting music from Toby’s phone. The noise would have been too much for either of them to listen to but way too much of a hassle to stop, so they just left. Jeff handed a cigarette to T, Hoodie had tried to make him quit but, one couldn't hurt too bad he figured as he took it, they didn’t really talk they mostly just looked around. T was so glad he didn’t feel the need to film himself anymore, he left most of the camera work to B these days and really focused on trying to teach Toby things that would help him deal with his tourettes in a healthier way. Toby was going through a hard time having just been dumped by Clockwork as she had vanished without a trace. Ben had come to them battered and bruised seeking sanctuary from Zalgo and Clockwork had left not long after.

T gave out a sigh and scuffed up the tobacco stick he was smoking. He and Jeff already began to feel uneasy long before the Hooded man appeared from the bushes. Masky immediately went to his aid, he was in bad shape and they practically pulled him into the Motel room. They weren’t worried if he would die, the thing that attacked him wouldn’t have let him get away had it wanted him dead. “What happened?” Toby yelled and immediately was at the man in the tan jacket’s side. “Holy shit Brian! Y-You got fucked!! Fuck!” B groaned “Thank you for noticing Toby.” The masked man sat on the bed next to his partner, the hooded man writhed in pain. “What happened B?” “Jack and Jill were there already.” Jeff looked confused, “Why the fuck is Splendor watching a kid with aggression issues?” “That's what I would like to know” The lights flicker as the voice of their master echoes in their heads. A sharp blaring pain, a horrible high pitched whine and suddenly The Slenderman is in the hotel room. “Children, you must come back to the base at once. Do you hear me?” T was the only one able to respond, and even that was just a curt nod. He left just as abruptly as he had entered but at least the noise was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

Nina had sat up in bed after Slender had left. “So are we leaving?” She said to the man in the tan jacket. He watched his partner groan and try to move himself into an upright position and sighed. “No, we aren’t leaving tonight.” He pushes the hooded man back down onto the bed and situates him into a more comfortable position. “Jeff, Ben, are you two good to keep watch?” Jeff nods and so does Ben, Toby raises his hand, without looking away from helping B the masked man asks “What Toby?” “Can I also keep watch?” Masky shook his head, “No, you and I will take the next one. Get some sleep.” “But Masky!” “Toby, I know you're excited but you’ve been up to long , your tics and your attitude are going to be horrible if you don’t get some rest.” Toby groans, grabs some extra bedding from the closet and makes his way to the bathroom. Nina gives a reassuring nod to Jeff who nods back to her, she lays back down and tries to get some rest. The masked man lays down next to his partner but doesn’t sleep, B however has already passed out from the pain of losing to the clown ass beating of the century. Ben knew one thing, If Jack and Jill were involved, he wanted to leave immediately.

Jack and Jill were seated firmly in a tree outside of Slenderboys motel room, playing a very intense and one sided staring contest with Jeff through the front window. Since Jeff didn’t have eyelids it would be whoever lasted the longest until the boy pulled his artificial tears from his pocket, that would get the prize! Then the real fun would begin. Jack was the victorious clown as Jill blinked her watering eyes and began dabbing them with her sleeve. “Seems like I’ve won again my dear!” “I swear you no good double crossin,” “Easy with the pet names darling! We’re in public!” He shoves her from the tree and she crashes to the ground “It’s indecent!” he cackles and he jumps down next to her landing in a painful looking heap that didn’t bother him one bit. Splendor liked using the clowns, his crew may not be as large as his brother’s but they had something far superior. A general lack of self preservation made for a good proxy, a certain level of blood lust didn’t hurt either, and these two were just the two killers he needed all wrapped up in adorable little clown costumes! “But!” LJ said as he got to his feet, untangling his long lanky limbs from one another as he helps Jill to her feet as well, “Since I won, I won, I win!” He pulls his music box from seemingly nowhere and begins to slither towards the parking lot. The beat down at the boy’s house was just a wake up call. The clowns had planted their music boxes there weeks ago, looking out for any child that might be on Slender’s radar. Splendor was right to call in the clowns, the hooded man couldn’t see them coming, he had tried to sneak in a downstairs window and make his way up to the kid’s room. Trying to stash some of the white pills associated with the tall suited man, when they jumped from their music boxes and led him out back for some… Fun. Jack slides up to their car and begins to work off the side view mirror to shove his small music box behind it. He would love to just go up there and see all the pretty heads he could nail to a wall but he had a job to do he remembered. 

Jeff and Ben woke the man in the tan jacket for his watch, he stretched and made his way to the bathroom. Toby laid in a heap of blankets and limbs contained within the motel bathtub, gnashing his teeth in his sleep. The masked man patted his leg and caught the arm swinging up with the hatchet. “It’s me Tobe” The younger man drops his arm, “J-just testing you old man.” Masky bends down to be at level with Toby’s bathtub den, Toby smiles at the man and he smiles back. “Can’t believe Hood took it hard from t-two clowns.” He tics his head to the side and it cracks. “Uu,” the mask man says “that was a good one.” “W-well I’m glad you can get enjoyment out of my bull shit.” Toby chuckles and lifts himself out of the bathtub. As they start their watch Ben crawls on top of the table in the room and curls up into his shirt. Jeff slides onto the mattress alongside Nina and wraps his arms around her, in a moment they're both asleep, as soundly as two very traumatised individuals can. Every single one of them hasn’t had a decent night's sleep in years. Even the man battered and bruised laying on the bed flinched and winced in his bed. They were a sad crew but these quiet watches and nights were the closest thing these 5 people and one demon had to peace.


	6. Chapter 6

Nina wakes up warmer than normal, feeling arms around her and a body that she hoped was Jeff’s since it wasn’t there when she had fallen asleep. It groaned as she moved her head, it was definitely Jeff as he snuggled tighter to her. She smiles and giggles softly hugging his arms closer to her, he begins to pull away and she sadly lets him. “Sorry,” he mumbles as he rolls out of the bed. Toby jumps onto the foot of the bed they had been sharing “Mornin y’all!” Jeff scoffs as he starts to put on his shoes, the morning sun has already begun to light the sky outside and the alarm clock says 5 am. “Masky went out for breakfast!” “Great!” Nina breathes out hard through her nose as she stretches one arm to the ceiling, “I love the smell of jerky in the morning” Toby laughs and goes to check on the hooded man. Ben stretches out and climbs down off the table rubbing his dripping eyes. “What about those of us with taste?” “A bag of pretzels perhaps?” Giggles Toby as he helps lift B off the bed, “Or perhaps a heaping helping of.” He does his best impression of the Masked Man “shut up and eat what I give you, you should’ve gone with it if you wanted to pick!” He laughs at his own impression, Toby wasn’t normally a morning person but today was a special day. They were going home, and that’s what he wanted more than anything. He loved the mansion, especially when there would be other people there! He couldn’t wait to be in his room again, the lizard he caught and kept the last time he was there was probably dead but still, he was excited. Plus he might be able to convince Timothy to let him ride back with Jeff and them. He was anxious to get on the road and see how many traffic collisions he could cause. 

They were all ready to leave when the man in the tan jacket returned and Toby had gone out to the parking lot to meet him, “I got ‘em up T!” T smiles at the kid. “I knew you could do it.” The older man hands him a donut and Toby takes it side shuffling to keep up with T’s pace. “So, I was thinking, since the others are here, you and B would want a break from me so could I ride with them?” The older man sighs and closes his eyes as he continues to walk towards the room. He opens them again when he’s at the door, “Let me think about it.” This is followed by Toby pumping his fist in the air and whispering yelling a “Yes!”. They enter the room and the masked man dumps a bag on a table with various “breakfasty” snack foods. “There’s a case of water in the trunk of our car, grab some before you go but be careful we aren’t making many stops.” Mostly silently they gather their minimal belongings and check out. Toby is allowed to go with them with a promise that the younger proxies won’t let anything happen to him. They promise and begin the drive back to the closest thing these broken people have to home.

The drive goes well considering the individuals in the cars are unaware of the horrible mistake they have made. The music box tinks like laughter as they lead Jack straight to their Boss’s sanctum. As they pull up to the mansion Toby immediately tries to make a jump for it, they settle on letting him stick his head through the sunroof much to the irritation of the masked man. They park in front of the double doors and file out of the cars. Toby sprints up to the door and knocks in a specific pattern causing them to swing open revealing a dirty foyer. He takes off his mask to smell the dusty dank air and to yell out so loud that his torn cheek threatens to open again “We’re home!” He then listens carefully for the sound he’s waiting for, the sound of small feet and big paws as Sally and Smile Dog come running down the stairs. Sally leaps into Toby’s arms and Smile runs out the door to tackle Jeff who cackles with mad laughter. “Hey Smile!” Jeff says through being assaulted by the large dog’s tongue, “You miss Daddy huh?” The hell dog echoes out a bark and Jeff begins to wrestle with him. Nina goes over to say hi to Sally who Toby is carrying back down the stairs. “You need some suun girl!” He teases the young girl, she just giggles “And you need more skin!” She sticks her fingers directly into his mouth and he pretends to choke. She laughs harder as he pulls her hand out of his mouth to say “I’ll talk to the Good Doctor, alright kiddo.” She leans stretching out and making grabby hands at T. “Uncle Masky!” He smiles at the dumb nickname, she’s called him that since she met them. She’s the one that started the whole Hoodie and Masky thing, the men didn’t mind at first but now it’s ridiculous when the other proxies followed her in it. He went over and took her from Toby and gave her a hug. She threw her arms around everyone, it had been forever since she had seen them, Slendey had tried to keep her as company as he could but he was busy. The Good Doctor was usually either hunting or working on a kill so he wasn’t much of a playmate either. Smile was her only real companion, she missed them terribly when they were gone. 

They all collected in the kitchen, it was in impeccable condition compared to the prank foyer, Iit had an island with a bit of clutter, a few dishes in the sink and some clean in the dishwasher with a double door fridge with barely anything in it. As the crew that had just driven 33 hours pretty much with no stops they were fucking hungry. Sally offered to make them “Sally and Smile’s Dog Food Surprise” they politely denied and told her that maybe just Smile should eat that. It turned out the surprise was putting sprinkles on the canned dog food they fed Smile. He seemed to like it so Jeff just shrugged and poured himself some Captain Crunch. “Jeff wait,” B says from the fridge, he has his mask halfway up to smell the milk carton. “Oh shit, Locklear has actually kept up on the shopping!” He says as he hands the milk over to the pale man. Sally gasps loudly before zooming off, the adults look after her with a look of confusion, just for her to come back with her hands behind her back. “I made things for you!” She smiles wide with pride and says “Close your eyes and stick out your hands please!” They surrender their arms to the little girl knowing what’s coming next. She places a bracelet on each of their wrists, Ben getting two, she sits at the island and places her elbows on the slightly dusty counter top as she says. “Okay! Open em!” They do as they are told once again to find the friendship bracelets that are normally associated with coming back home to the mansion. Nina wore every one Sally had ever given her, the others knew they couldn’t wear them all so they usually wore them for a bit before keeping them in their own way. Masky’s in a box on his nightstand in his room here in the mansion, Toby’s on the bottom of a lava lamp he always forgot to turn off, and etc. etc. “Fuck yeah mine says weed lmao!” Ben says excitedly. “Ben.” T sighs, “Thank you Sally, they’re very nice as always.” He smiles warmly at her and she bounces in her seat by lifting herself with her elbows. Nina went over to smother the girl with hugs and friendly smooches as the girl giggles like crazy. Smile’s head suddenly snaps up, he barks at Jeff and begins bounding back to the front door. “Mother fucker.” Jeff throws his bowl in the sink, breaking something within he calls out as he follows Smile, “Get the Doc.” Masky nods to Toby who takes off towards the stairs that lead to the basement. Hoodie orders Nina to get Sally upstairs to her room and she grabs the small girl and takes off in the same direction Jeff has just exited, B pulled his mask down and took off towards the stairs as well. The masked man sighs, “I know right?” Says the cyberdemon pulling his laptop out of his backpack and placing it on the counter. “Just stay alert alright?” T pulls his mask on and heads to the front of the house Ben climbs into the laptop, “I always am.”


	7. Chapter 7

Out front was quite literally the last thing the man in the mask had wanted to see, Splendor and his posse of, Laughing Jack and Jill, Mr. Widemouth, and Jane the Killer, standing literally on their doorstep and the only thing he could think of was “Shit, he’s gonna be pissed.” The Splendorman just laughed, “Knock knock!” He said with a permanent grin “Is Sally home?” Smile snarls at the tall man and his crew, Jeff yells out “Drop dead asshole!” A woman’s voice rings out “Watch you tongue Jeffery.” A woman with a pale face and completely black eyes and pointed a knife at Jeff “Or shall I cut it out so you can see it better?” The Splendorman raises a tentacle to lower her hand “Now now Mrs. Richardson that isn’t how we deal with things anymore!” Jill laughs a joyously evil laugh and stands up on the ball of one foot with her other extended behind her as she says “Are we fighting them now!?” Jack giggles horribly “I see the child~” He coos spying Sally in Nina’s arms through the door, “Hello pretty~” He chuckles and the mask man shouts gruffly “Nina. Upstairs.” Nina takes off behind them Toby comes running back to the entrance while Jill leaps forward trying to make a beeline for the masked men at the doors. Toby stands in front of the man in the tan jacket and cracks her head to the side with the back of his hatchet. “L-listen you FUCKING CLOWNS!” Toby screams as he raises his leg to Sparta kicks Jill down the stairs. “I-I’ve had a very l-long fucking year” He stops to violently crack his head to the side “And I-I’ve been dying to ki-ick the Shit. Out of someone.” He laughs like crazy before jumping on top of Jill at the bottom of the stairs to springboard him forward towards Laughing Jack. The old girl makes a sad honking sound as he makes impact and Jack begins to laugh like crazy as he blocks Toby’s incoming foot. “NO! Please stop!” The Splendorman pleads but Jane makes a dash for Jeff and is stopped by Smile who she begins to wrestle with. Jeff makes his way towards Splendorman before hearing a “vwoop” sound and a blur of black and purple. He calls out “Shit,” before trying to cover his eyes and stop his momentum but he hears the screams of the enderman and knows he’s fucked. 

Opening his eyes he begins to make a mad slash at anything in the air knowing the Enderman could now be anywhere. “Wait a minute!” The Splendorman tries again to make it known he does not want the fighting. Mr. Widemouth scratches his head before trying to sneak around the action and up the stairs once more. He looks behind him as he climbs, Toby taking on both clowns at once Jane almost pinning the demon dog only to be thrown, and Jeff madly swinging his knife he had to laugh. It looked like a damn circus to him, he chuckled darkly to himself as he climbed the last step. When he heard the clicking of a gun and looked up to see it’s barrel it stopped his very wide mouth from grinning. “Going somewhere?” Said the glitched voice of the hooded man.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW pregnancy TW Baby loss TW Abortion

Upstairs Nina stood within her bedroom, she pushed the small girl towards her closet and hid her inside. “Just stay in here okay? Don’t worry! We’re gonna keep you safe” Nina gave her a bright smile and a wink to try and calm the small girl’s nerves. Sally nodded silently, enemies had never been at the mansion before, the two girls were shaken. Nina immediately booted up the old pc in the corner of her room, she hadn’t used it in ages and she hoped it still worked. She did a silent cheer when it booted on but cursed herself for the last time she used this computer she turned the speakers all the way up. Curse her incessant need to be irritating as the windows log in sound echoes through the mansion. She frantically turns it down as Ben appears on her screen doing his best not to crack up at her blunder. “Cierra la puta boca, this is serious!” Ben composes himself and salutes glitching out hers and the rest of the screens in the mansion sending out a distress signal. Suddenly her window slides open, Nina leaps to her feet grabbing two knives from her nightstand as a familiar redhead climbs into her room. “Clocky?”

The girl with the clock eye smiles at Nina, a smile like nothing had happened between all of them. It made Nina sick to look at and she lunged at the other girl, she wouldn’t throw her off for long, she was the enemy now and was to be treated as such. Clockwork stepped to the side and evaded Nina’s attack, she then striked upwards towards the red head’s face with her knives. “Those edges don’t seem fresh enough bitch!” Giggles Nina, “Lemme do em for you!” She continues to slash at Clockwork and the girl with the clock eye dodges and blocks them. It’s almost like they’re just sparring again, but Nina has to keep reminding herself of what she did. She remembers a messed up Toby recounting the tale to her and Ben of how Clockwork got pregnant. Toby and her didn’t know what the hell to do, they didn’t want to abort it. Hell they weren't even sure if they could in the condition the both of them were in. They had decided to keep it but it was still very uncertain. Clockwork had begun to spend more time in Toby’s room, Toby did a lot more solo missions. It was a dark night when Clockwork and Toby had their fight. A verbal explosion that went so below the belt it left Clockwork stabbing herself in the stomach. Locklear had stitched her up but there was no saving the baby. The next morning she was gone. No note no anything. Toby was heart broken and spent a week in his room tearing it apart. He eventually managed to make his way to Ben’s room one night, drunk and exhausted. They called Nina for moral support and he sobbed until he passed out in Ben’s bed. They told T and B about it and they decided it would be best for Toby to be out awhile. Thus the Maine trip. Nina brought her knife down hard and whiffed again, how was this happening? Clockwork was not this skilled! The red haired girl smirked and grabbed Nina’s arm and twisted it until it broke, Nina cried out in pain and dropped to the floor. Clockwork grinned down at her before stepping on her hand that she grabbed her arm with and kicking her in the head knocking her out.. Ben jumps out of the computer, Clockwork laughs at the demon before smiling at him and stating plainly “You’ve met with a terrible fate haven’t you?” He snorts “Cute.” He goes to fight her only to freeze and be pulled back into the computer by force. His face being placed on the screen, his eyes spurting and sputtering out black fluid he opens his mouth in a silent screen as his face gets replaced by the flashing face of Herobrine. She cackles and goes to the cabinet putting on her sweetest voice. “Hey Sally! Remember me?” Sally nods through her sobs. “Where’s Nina?” Sally asks, “She got hurt.” Clockwork says to her, “You have to come with me okay?” She offers her hand to the small girl and Sally takes it; she holds the girl to her chest so she can’t see Nina’s flinching body. “We have to climb through the computer, just like Benny right?” Sally nods against her collar bone, Clockwork pushes Sally through before chuckling and sliding in herself. 

Aggressive tentacles fire in all directions grabbing and holding everyone in the clearing’s hands in place. Angry static fills the air and in the corner of their eyes they all see the tall man. They feel his frightening energy and they cringe as they hear his static yell. “What is this nonsense brother.” A static more pleasant and sounding almost as bells replies back “A warning dear brother! Your girl is not safe! A horrible plot! A terrible fate!” The first and louder static in it’s enraged state practically barks back “Because you are here!” “We target her not!” As the beings argue the noise gets to be too much to those not used to it, Smile goes limp and the three masked men begin to cough violently. The clowns began to scream out about how much agony they’re in, even Jeff and Jane have to bite their lips to not scream from the splitting headache. “He seeks your girl Brother! He seeks, he creeps! He’s taken in sheeps!” “You will leave!” Horrible screams fill the air as The Splendorman and his team S-Step away in a cloud of glitter, the proxies drop to the ground coughing easing up but they still cling to the ground trying to catch their breath in the presence of The Operator. “Fix this.” A breath of fresh air and the headaches ease as their master teleports away. They are left with only this as they writhe in pain on the ground in front of the mansion. “Welcome home Pastas.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter goes out to orbit_draws1 for actually inspiring my dumb ass to upload!

Jeff wakes up with grass in his mouth, not a new occurrence and incredibly uncomfortable. To add insult to injury there was grass on his fucking eyes. He rises to his feet and drowns his eyes in eye drops. The pale man is shaking with rage as he goes to make sure his large pet is alright. The hooded man flinches and pulls of his mask as he clambors to his knees, he coughs up something dark. “T!” he pleads and looks at his partner who coughs beside him also unmasked. “Fine!” They help each other to their feet “Toby?” The older man yells out, Toby giggles from his space on the floor “N-numb!” He begins to scream into the sky Hoodie winces at every one of them as the two men go to calm down the third member of their party, as he writhes and sobs into the dirt. Jeff slams his fist to the ground, the dog is knocked unconscious and while he knows it isn’t dead he’s pissed and it’s another mental knife he wants to stab into someone physically. He stalks inside and goes back to the staircase that leads up to the room. He checks Sally’s room first just to see, he knew Nina wouldn’t be stupid enough to keep her in her own room but he knew better than to underestimate how fucking stupid people could be. He begins opening every door until he got to Nina’s. Another blade forms in his head as he sees her body lying on the floor with a broken arm and nose. He drops to her side and checks her pulse, she’s still alive at least. He picks her up and mutters a “sorry.” and takes her down to the basement. Outside the masked man and the individual in the hoodie are consoling the young man after his break down. He didn’t hurt himself during this one so at least there was that. Jeff came back outside after dropping Nina off with the doctor and walked over to them. He pulls the masked man aside and says “Nina’s fucked up bad, I can’t find Ben and Sally.” T gives out a long sigh, “Alright, stay here with Toby please? Get him to bed or something just make sure he doesn’t hurt himself B and I will-” He cuts himself off looking over at the man in the old hoodie, it had been awhile since he had seen him unmasked and the fresh bruises and few nicks on his face were enough to make him want to re-think sending him. What could they do to fix this? He didn’t want Sally to be gone with them though, T knew that Splendor wouldn’t be able to hold Jack and Jill back for long. He assumed The Splendorman was trying to rehabilitate them to suit his needs better but that didn’t mean anything to those clowns. He might be able to work something, he lets out a breath and says “No, new plan. B’s gonna stay here until he’s strong enough then I’ll keep you posted but be ready to meet up. I’m taking Toby.” He walked off to let Jeff convey the orders, T had a call to make.


	10. Chapter 10

Brian woke up in a bed, which was always better than waking up on the forest floor. He stretched a bit to look around and take in his surroundings, terrible wood furniture that didn’t match, a carton of cigarettes on the nightstand near a bottle of pills, also on the nightstand his gun and B’s mask. He was on a messed up box spring bed with the sheets everywhere and a flannel that he was previously cuddled up to. He smiles a bit, it’s T’s. He yawns and sits up with the shirt in his hands, the whole room smells like home, he doesn’t remember anything that’s happened but he can tell by his sore body and lack of a partner, it was nothing good. He pulled the mask over his face and threw his hood up hoping to ease the transition from Brian back to B as easily as possible should the moment arise. Brian was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder and Obsessive Compulsive Personality Disorder from a very young age. Having a very violent and abusive home life since he was born probably had something to do with it but he hadn’t seen those people that spawned him since his first day of school. 

On the first day of kindergarten, a kid colored his grass red, against his expressed wishes, and it had been the final straw to set the already very stressed out and angry child he was, off on a violent breakdown that resulted in the kid getting part of his ear cut with safety scissors. Brian and B a one way ticket to a mental hospital after that. He wouldn’t go into detail about his life before the hospital, and could barely remember the time they did spend there, but he was getting it piece by piece from drawings B would make for him. He looked over at the nightstand again to see a note he hadn’t before. It read, “Go easy on us. I didn’t. Sorry.” With a drawing of a frown, he chuckles and puts it in the pocket of his jeans. 

There wasn’t a moment he didn’t regret doing it, hurting the kid of course, and he was furious with B for letting it happen but he eventually understood that at that point in time it was out of his control. He has a terrible feeling he’s done much worse things nowadays, but he trusts B to manage their new life. He let himself into the kitchen there was already someone there. The individual he could gather information on by remembering the notebook drawings B would leave him, he knows this man to be Jeff the Killer. Brian could freely move around and do as he pleased but he knew to keep talking to a minimum. Brian was to never let himself be known, or the Operator would put them back on pills. Unfortunately that didn’t seem to be an option as the younger man looked at Brian and said “You’re alive, that’s good.” Brian just nodded behind the mask and searched for something to eat. “Nina and Smile are fucking fine by the way!” Jeff said anger tinting his words, Brian slowly closed the cabinet. He knew Jeff wasn’t the person he wanted to piss off, at all, but he didn’t know what the hell he was talking about! 

Brian turned to the man with his hands up in surrender, “I know, I’m just fucking pissed T has us doing nothing!” He kicks the cabinet, and Brian takes a seat, he motions for Jeff to continue his rant, Jeff would have anyway.  
“We should be out there helping to find Sally!” Jeff says in a huff  
“I’m so fucking sick of us getting hurt because of their petty bullshit!” He motions to the basement, “I mean Nin was half fucking dead and who even did it? We don’t fucking know!”  
He slams his fists on the counter top. He moves through the kitchen, pacing back and forth making violent hand gestures as he moves. Brian just nods behind the mask, once Jeff’s worn himself out he pops himself up on a counter pressing his back hard against the cabinets. 

Brian sighs at the sound he goes over and pats the man’s knee. “I know they’ll be fine and we’ll get them back.” He says with a sigh and he runs his hand through his hair, “I just wish we didn’t have to go through this bull shit. It’s fucking tiring” He pauses staring at the ceiling. “Sorry, how are you doing ya old fuck?” Brian snorts and nods again giving a wobbly hand so sign he was doing okay. “Good.” The man hops down and grabs his keys, “You want fucking Mcdonalds?” Brian laughed at his excessive use of the word “fuck” and nodded once again but motions to the basement, to ask about leaving Nina on her own. Jeff grimaces thinking about it, then his face hardens before saying “Locklear will watch her. Plus she’d appreciate the mcgriddle.” Jeff leaves and Brian follows him, hoping he can learn where the hell his partner went off to and maybe score a hash brown.


	11. Chapter 11

Skully turned right on what seemed to be an abandoned road. He knew it wasn’t abandoned however because he was the one to lay the trees that he was now exiting his car to remove from the road. The hassle was a small price to pay for the path to the land he now called home to be secure. The other car that had been told to follow him carrying the man in the tan jacket and the boy with the hatchets stopped behind his car as he cleared the last tree. He got in his car, drove through, got out, let the others through, and then set back up the trees again.   
The young man in the front seat had to laugh, “he’s insane!” Toby shrieked as the man in the hat jogged back to his car. Toby ticked in excitement the whole drive but now he was smiling widely unable to hide his joy at something new. “The smart always are.” Grumbled the masked man in response as he followed the car in front down the rest of the road.  
“Is he?” Toby asked,  
“Is he what?” Asked T back,  
“Smart.” Toby said back at him a little annoyed as he ticked the masked man’s name a few times.  
The man in the jacket just shrugged and said “He’s the only one to make it away from the boss man. So I would say so.” The young man just slumped back in his seat pressing his feet to the glove compartment as the car came to a stop in front of an old run down house. Toby peered out the window and assessed that if he stepped foot near the house he would get lyme disease and rabies on the spot. Upset now with the answers given to him he throws up his hood and huffs to the side, the masked man sighs. “What was it you didn’t like?” Toby grumbles softly after some time “I don’t want to talk about him.” T just puts his hand on Toby’s shoulder and says “I know, I don’t either. But I couldn’t think of anything smart this idiot has done to actually prove himself.” T chuckles slightly, he’s trying to cheer up Toby, even if he isn’t sure why the kid’s upset with him. Toby sticks his arm out and begins messing with the glove compartment handle and the masked man asks “Do you want me to stay for a second?” Toby shakes his head, “I can calm down.” T squeezes the boy’s shoulder “I can stay?” Toby sits up, “No, I’m okay.” He opens his door and disappears into the morning light. “Okay.” The masked man exits the car and turns to see Skully moving branches away from the gate to the backyard of the house. “Jesus in hell Skull did you have to go through all this?” He asks as the man is forced to climb over a small fence of chicken wire that sits around the gate like a grounded rainbow of pain. “That one’s just for the racoons actually. I know that Chicken Wire won’t stop anything real, I’m not an idiot!” The masked man puts up his hands in surrender “Wasn’t calling you one. Honest.” He knows better than to poke at the man in the hat’s fragile ego, it was all he had. 

Once inside the view changed drastically. The cabin wasn’t at all the haunted mansion type that Toby had expected and dreaded it to be, it was actually clean and one could describe it as cozy. “Don’t make yourself at home. We’re just here to grab something that’ll help you out and then I want you gone.” The man in the hat stormed through the room like a train, focused, with only one destination in mind. A small side table that had a drawer that needed to be opened with a key that was one of many around the ring on Skully’s pant’s loop. Once open he retrieved what looked like a carrying case for a gameboy color. The man in the tan jacket sighed once more “You have got to be kidding me Skull.” The shorter man replied “What?” holding out the gameboy for him to grab. “This.” This is why they took Sally, is what T wanted to say, but instead he just took the device and said “This is very helpful. Thank you.” The man in the hat sneered at him, “Yeah, I know it is. Now please, leave, as fast as possible.” T pushed Toby back out the way they came, just as eager to get away from here as the man in the hat was eager to have them gone. 

T dropped the last tree back onto the road and began softly jogging over to the drivers side again. Once they were back on the road Toby had brightened his mood enough with thoughts of what it was the Skully had given them. It seemed so small it couldn’t be important. The young man ticked the older man’s name again to get his attention. He also hit the man softly on the arm and asked “What is that?” T just kept driving but answered, “A member of Splendors team.” Toby looked at the older man in shock, “NO,” he shouted “Is that Lost Silver?” The young man went to grab the device but T just yelled, “Stop!” and the boy was still aside from the occasional tick. “You know it isn’t to be messed with.” Toby nods slowly before asking “What are we gonna do with it?” T kept his eyes on the road, “we’re going to barter.”


	12. Chapter 12

When the treeline of what Jeff had lovingly dubbed the Slenderforest cleared, the two men had found themselves driving into a parking lot. It was devoid of cars and not the destination they were expecting. “What the fuck?” Jeff asked as he stopped the car, the two men gazed out the windows at the only light source they could see through the semi-bright brumous, a sign for a Dillard's that looked long since abandoned and appeared almost instantly as Brian looked in it’s direction. The Ski-masked man was the first to exit the car, his breath instantly joining and liquifying with the moisture in the dense air and clinging to the fabric that covered his mouth and nose. The mist seemed to pull him towards the sudden establishment with an incorporeal wind that swirled the fog but didn’t chill him. Jeff exited the car and sighed heavily, “What the fuck is this bull shit?” Brian hardly knew most things that went on in his life but he knew to film the things he didn’t understand. Out of his large hoodie pocket he pulls a camera out and begins recording his surroundings and the individual that accompanied him for B’s future reference. This was a normal occurrence whenever things had turned from everyday spooky to supernatural and also would help inform T later on. Brian nods for Jeff to follow him as he walks up to the door of the miraculous Dillards.

Inside was an almost empty store, the basic worn down and faded dark blue carpet that must have at one point been shaggier but has since been flattened by trampling wandering feet smelled mildewed and old. There are few patrons and Brian tries to keep his cool as he keeps his camera low. He quickly lifts his mask off seeing as this is apparently a functioning place to shop and a full ski-mask with a weird face isn’t really appropriate attire, he lets down his hood too for good measure. The lights flicker slightly and there’s an electronic buzz that can be heard just louder than the faint song playing over the radio. Jeff scoffs, “let’s get out of here soon okay? I fucking hate Hot Topic Outlets.” Brian gives him a weird look but continues to stay silent, the pale man doesn’t find this odd at all since the man in the hood had been known not to utter a word to anyone but T for years. In fact him talking at all was the new thing Jeff was getting used to, but the killer didn’t have any problem in filling up the conversation himself. “Ugh, is that a discount me costume?” He started to make his way to one of the racks when one of the mannequins hit him on the head, Brian lifted his camera and it shouted. “No filming!”


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW Offenderman he isn't really doing anything bad but he's still like... there. 
> 
> Also, this is my Slendersiblings origins story lmao

After the camera had ceased to be functional and the men understood that this was no mere store, and the figure in front of them was no mere mannequin the scene began to unfold. “Greetings to the both of you.” The Trenderman stood before them in a long flowing black gown along with a pair of what looked to be Doc Martens, on top he wore a leather, knee length leather coat that would make a bride’s dress train jealous had it been on a normal person. Behind him was what looked like someone had tied a fighting dummy to an interrogation chair that was violent writhing back and forth practically frothing at the mouth as it screamed, “It’s all this SJW shit that’s keeping me down! I know I ain’t PC but what things are these days? This is bullshit Trender, you and Splendor will never change me! You know it!” Trender clicks a few buttons on what looks like a smart flip phone as Jeff groans. “You two are annoying as fuck you know that?” Brian has to agree with the killer’s analysis, so he does, but in his head. “I’m aware he is Mr. Woods, but unfortunately he needs to get with the program and adapt already or else he’s going to be forgotten.” Trenderman responds back not looking up from his phone, the one in the chair that can be identified as the fourth “Slenderbrother” yells out, “I want to be forgotten ya bastard! Let me die in peace!” Trenderman nods his head in a way that would be someone rolling their eyes, if he had eyes to roll. “I think it’s a suicide thing but I’m going to spark his interest in trying something new here soon, I’m sure of it.” The offenderman had gone to using his incredibly long, tentacle like tongue to begin doing what could only be guessed at his version of “making out” with an unfortunate real mannequin that was close to him. The Trenderman made a noise of disgust and the electronic humming got a little louder than the vague Bruno Mars sounding song playing over the ancient sound system. “Anyway,” Trenderman looked to the proxies and stated “We need to have a talk about Slender.”

“As you know our brother is more powerful than us, being older.” The Trenderman had pulled them into an employee break room that could only be described as, dank. There was only one working fluorescent light in the corner of the room that did nothing to illuminate the space at all. The Trenderman just continued on since they had left his younger brother to do as he pleased with the mannequin he had assaulted. “We are fearful that he may hurt himself in the process of his experiments.” The skin above Jeff’s left eye, the place his eyebrow used to be raised in confusion. “Experiments?” The Trenderman turns his lack of a face away from them as he states, “We are all tied to a natural curiosity to figure out how far humanity can go.” Brian was confused and after looking over to Jeff he could tell the pale man was too. “What does that mean exactly?” At the question the Trenderman places his hands on the wobbling table in front of them. “Listen boys, this is very important.” He begins to lean in closer. “I must tell you a tale of four siblings that lost their ways long ago.”

At the start of humanity there were four trees in the center of the large land mass now called Earth. They were large both in width and height and could be seen from anywhere in the center of a thick forest. They stood tirelessly until after years and years, travelers had come upon them and decided that this place protected by the trees would be their resting place. Now, while the forest had no magical properties, the trees at the center were teeming with energy that was far beyond humanities capacity at the time. But as the world grew and the travelers settled and expanded the trees watched overhead and they learned. And with the knowledge being shared with them rearranged their bark to be bodies, and their branches to form the limbs they studied on the bodies that wandered below them.  
The eldest was the most effermerial of them all, laughter and bells followed where they went and the people loved them. They found the objects of man's happiness to be most important and devoted their time to experiments in joy. What could make humanity most happy. The second to manifest was very formidable even though their visage matched perfectly with their older sibling. But they preferred to show themselves to the night owls, up with their worried thoughts, there to put them at ease. But upon learning that it was not the eldest sibling the people grew fearful of them and the people would shut and lock the openings to their homes in fear of a visit from them. The people would sleep now but it would be a fight and so the second made their experiments with fright and paranoia.  
Resentment grew in the younger siblings heart as they watched the town decorate the two remaining trees in the dark one night along with their older sibling, lit by a large fire the clearing was a live with dance and song as the eldest one shaped a new sibling for the tall beings. The second believed them to not be good enough in the elders mind and the eldest feared the younger lonely and wished to ease his pain in any way, so they made this third adaptable to any situation, and very hard working. Once introduced to humanity they took great pleasure in gossiping and the fantastic things that could be created by humanity, and forgot their original job of being a friend to the second being. With one tree standing the little town had grown accustomed to their tall beings, the one who brought laughter and games, the one that brought jobs and individuality and the one who went bump in the night but brought sleep. They were happy with their incredibly tall faceless ones but had begun to wonder if the final tree would form into another individual. 

There was a girl who liked to visit the final tree, she came in the evenings frequently to sit at it’s trunk and just speak about anything until it was too cold and she had to head to her home. She was a very lonely woman and speaking to the tree was stated by her to be the best part of her day. One night when it got cold the girl didn’t leave, she remained sitting at the trunk and she didn’t talk. She didn’t move at all in fact. The tree began to morph, finally taking on a humanoid form to scoop the girl in it’s tall arms and bring her close. The girl's eyes had widened as the former tree looked upon her without any features at all. She raised her hand to the side of their face and they rushed to get her help. Or at least that’s all the Trenderman knew as he states to the proxies breaking his narrative.  
“I’m unsure of how my younger brother became the way he is currently. But I don’t think things went well for him.” The Trenderman brings a long hand over where his mouth would be, “regardless since taking these forms and becoming sentient we have made humans our ‘lab rats’” He uses air quotes here and switches his position to cross one leg over the other as Jeff folds his arms “Thanks for the fucking history lesson, but what the hell does that mean for us?” Brian nodded in agreement with Jeff. “It means that you are nothing more than test mice in a cage to my brother but that doesn’t mean you are to us.” The already dim light begins to now flash like a lazy strobe light as the Trenderman continues, “We do not appreciate what he is doing to all of you and Splendor and I will have to step in if we do not see changes.” He rubs his temples, “We have grown to care about you lot and we hate to see you suffer any longer for our failures. So we are starting with telling you the truth, and hoping you’ll see reason yourself.” Jeff scoffs and stands up, “The only thing I see is that you interrupted my breakfast trip so you can fill our heads with some fucking old ass shit I don’t care about.” “It’s important Mr. Woods we need to get him to see the beauty in humanity again!” Trenderman slams his hand on the tabletop and Jeff slams a kitchen knife through it while yelling back “And I think you’ve come to the wrong fucking person!” He huffs as he kicks the chair he was sitting in and calling out “Come on B we’re fucking getting breakfast.” Brian stands up timidly and after seeing that the Trenderman is not going to stop them he follows. “There are pretzels up the escalator.” Trenderman calls after them, he sounds tired and sarcastic. Jeff lifts his middle finger so it can be seen from over his shoulder. When they open the doors that lead out to the parking lot the atmosphere and general darkness tells them that it’s now night time. Jeff yells fuck.


	14. Chapter 14

The man in the tan jacket was eager to get this over with, he didn’t want to do this but this was dire and he didn’t have any other options. If Sally was hurt or gone forever he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. He gained an affinity for the girl and she made it hard not to adore her. With her kind encouraging words, her bubbling personality, and most of all how she truly treated every member in the household as someone she could look up to and respect. She saw them as family and it tore him down to think that she could be in danger and he couldn’t stop it. With his head feeling like the storm clouds above him he decides he’s driven far enough and pulls the car over to the side of the road. 

No words need to be spoken as the two exit the car and make their way into the forest, once deep enough T removes the Game Boy from his pocket. Setting it on the ground starts a ripple of joy that just can’t help but get a giggle from the young man with the hatchets. “Boys, I’m glad to see you here!” A light and bouncing voice sounds across the trees, The Splendorman is keeping it’s distance and T can understand why. “It’s just a peace offering, we only want Sally.” The masked man says out to the forest as the man with the hatchet’s laughs get harder and harder. “I tried to tell you what I fear! Your dear girl is not here. But look and find someone who, once called your home, home too.” T begins to chuckle at the funny voice’s riddles but he quickly tries to snap out of it, Toby isn’t doing as great as he falls to the floor tears streaming down his face from laughter “You won’t distract me!” T yells, he’s getting frustrated and he knows the Slenderborther’s games by now, distraction to get what you want. “Where is she!” The Splendorman appears before him, it’s hands outstretched and it’s face just looks so funny, T begins to laugh as the figure speaks again. “Your girl I’m sorry is not with me. Remember the cogs and the ticks, you will see who you need. No friend of mine, no friend indeed. My brother once housed, the girl’s hair was like a mouse, and when she left, he wept more than an ounce.” The Splendorman raises his hand to Toby, who was cackling to tears writhing on the floor. Then suddenly nothing was funny any longer, suddenly Toby was alone with the fleeting feeling of joy. He sat up with a start and looked around as if trying to locate where it was going but alas there was nothing but an empty Game Boy.


	15. Chapter 15

T picked the kid up as best he could, but Toby had gotten a lot bigger since the first time they had met. 

Play nice boy.   
Yeah, sure, I will if they do. I don’t fucking spare bullies.

The kid didn’t look to be anything dangerous, not intimidating like Jeff was when he first came but the two men were wary. Jeff had proven to be a fighter in every way, he hadn’t won against the masked and hooded men but that didn’t stop him from putting up a good fight. 

This isn’t bullying. It’s training. Give it your all. Don’t hold back.

The voice from the tall man echoed through the young man's head.

I wasn’t planning on it.

The boy placed his goggles over his eyes ticking with excitement as he called out to the men

This is so I don’t get your blood in my eyes!

The Masked Man grimaced to himself, his partner scoffed, and the boy began running at the men. They got ready for an attack and were caught off guard by a hatchet soaring at the Masked Man’s head. He dodged at the last second and the hooded man let out a static of curses. He pulls the camera from his pocket and begins to film the boy running at them. Toby’s mind fills with static and he groans shaking his head violently. His groan turns into a war like cry as he pushes on and swings at the hooded man. He dodges, easily avoiding the boy’s attacks. With his free hand he brandishes his hand gun and shoots the kid in the leg. What surprises the hooded man next is that the boy is unfazed by the shot, he’s in fact laughing. 

Was that supposed to tickle?

Another strikes another dodges, the Masked Man brings down a hatchet from the side and the kid raises his metal hatchet to meet the blade before it can hit him. The boy uses his full weight to knock the Masked Man away from him and scurries to kick at the Hooded Man, who jumps back and films the boy once more. Putting everything into staring the boy down as he backs away from the hatchet strikes. The boy felt his head blare with pain, the static had not left his brain and was only getting louder. His swipes get less and less harsh as he hears a faint whine that turns to a glitched scream. He’s coughing now, and he suspects his leg is giving out on him as he feels the pressure of the ground hit his body. He can feel liquid escaping his mouth as he hears the Masked Man call out

Brian! Enough! Brian!

Toby’s mind succumbs to the static.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Memories of when Toby had first become a proxy. This poor kid's been through too much.


	16. Chapter 16

“Toby, hey, we’re almost home.”   
Toby wakes up pressed against the door of the old car drool soaking through his mask from where his cheek split from his gnashing. He moves his jaw around and the delayed movement tells him it’s stiff from his impromptu nap. Interacting with the Slenderbrothers had become more and more difficult the longer his depression went on. “Am I going to need to put you on the pills again Toby?” The last thing he heard T ask before he had fallen asleep. He knew he was being useless but he didn’t know what else to do. He didn’t feel numb, he at least knew what the dull pressure of his every touch felt like. But this was old, like when his sister died, it’s the feeling that made him a target for the Slenderman he understood now. He remembered how the tall man had just watched Toby almost die that day. After instructing him to do his best. Knowing he was doomed to fail. He held his hand up to bite on it and the Masked Man instructed him to stop. Toby cracked his neck and called the man’s name a few times before stating “I don’t want to go back on pills.” “I know you don’t but I can’t have you off on one every time we come into contact with one of them. What happens if it’s Offender?” Toby growls, “I’ll handle it!” T pulls the car over in the Slender Forest and turns to the boy. He slowly removes his mask and Toby lowers his gaze. “Look at me Toby.” Toby does not and the man just sighs, “Toby please.” He looks the man in the tan jacket in the eyes and T looks defeated. “I’m sorry about what happened when Clockwork left.” Toby remains silent, “And I’m sorry that I don’t know what happened exactly. B and I don’t know how to ask you what’s wrong. Everything seems to just make you more upset. So if it’s us then you can go off with Jeff or Nina when she gets better.” Toby just sighs, “It isn’t you T. It isn’t B either, you guys have been fine. There’s just too much to say and I don’t want to burden you with it.” Toby is surprised when T puts his hand on the boy’s shoulder and says “Toby I don’t know where you get it in your head that we think of you as His burden. You are our partner and we wouldn’t want you anywhere else!” The words catch Toby off guard. He had always gone through life just assuming people didn’t like him, that he was generally very displeasing to be around. “I- No T you don’t have to be like that.” “There’s nothing I’m trying to be Toby. I just want you to know that you have us to rely on. Me and B both care about you and we know this life is hell. So if there’s anything I can do to make it up to you please just tell me.” Toby looks towards the road ahead, it’s covered with a grey fog and leads to the only place he ever felt safe. The mansion and the two men that kicked the shit out of him the first time he met them had become the only constants in his life. So Toby went out on a limb, he instructed the man to keep driving, and as he recounted what happened with Clockwork, T just looked distraught. “I wish you had told us sooner. We could have helped Toby.” T said calmly, Toby just shrugs and sinks in the seat. “We wouldn’t have been able to take care of it. I see now that realistically it would have been a bad plan.” T just sighs as he replies, “yeah, but still. I’m sorry that happened. No one deserves it.”   
“She left for nowhere after that and I haven’t seen her since.”   
“Well hopefully she’s alright.”   
Toby gave a half smile as the building came into view. “Yeah.”


	17. Chapter 17

Jeff is waiting at the door when they get backed sitting near a now sleeping Smile Dog. When the men leave the car he calls out to them, “Ben’s gone.” T grumbles a curse and kicks the dirt as he stops in front of Jeff on the porch, Toby states, “You can’t be fucking seri-” The Masked Man cuts him off and says, “That means it wasn’t… It definitely wasn’t the Splendorman.” Jeff looks up at the man in the tan jacket, “what do you mean? Did you find a way to contact him?” T nods “It told us that he didn’t take Sally, basically he told us he only came as a warning that Sally was going to get taken.” He pauses to roll his eyes, “but it did say that Clockwork had something to do with it. And if they took Ben then it means Nat has run off to Zalgo.” Jeff groans and digs his fingers into Smile’s fur. “I wish something new would happen around here. Instead of chasing the same clowns around day in and day out!” The Masked Man sighs and starts walking around Jeff. “Where are you going?” asks Jeff, “To make sure B’s okay. Is he talking?” Jeff shakes his head and T nods his. “Okay, thanks. Toby get yourself something to eat.” Toby leaps up the steps behind T and turns to Jeff, “Can I feed Smile?” Jeff chuckles and nods looking down at the huge dog. As Toby runs inside Jeff runs his pale fingers across Smile’s fur and he thinks back. Not very long ago Smile was a member of Zalgo’s goons. Much like Ben he wasn’t very happy, while with the demon Smile was made to do the biddings of a hellhound of sorts he was once a normal husky. But, years of poor treatment caused him to lash out. He attacked a previous underling of Zalgo and boy did he not like that. Locking the dog up in a cage for a long time until Ben decided enough was enough, sending out the email chain containing the image of Smile across the internet, and simultaneously freeing them both from the grasp of their shared “employer”. They had come to find the mansion by force as the Slenderman found them intriguing and stole them away for himself. They never seemed to mind since the man’s only wish was for them to do small favors for him, in exchange they could continue to do what they did best in their own time. Terrifying noobs on the internet. Jeff sighed and leaned his head down to feel Smile’s stomach rise and fall. Jeff’s thoughts began to drift to Nina. He had been the one to find her, it made his blood boil and his chest hurt to remember her broken like that. Like she wasn’t alive. He had developed, not feelings but, at least a vague fondness for her just like he had for his fellow proxies. Difficult to put into words.   
The closer the two had gotten he began to resent himself at first, it wasn’t a general hatred of the girl in fact it was quite the opposite. He hated that he was the reason she was there. Jeff wouldn’t wish this life on anyone, and since he considered himself to be an asshole, he couldn’t understand why this girl would throw it all away just to be like him. Eventually he had talked to her about it, after a mission he had had with her and Ben.   
Jeff resented the work he did for the Slenderman, he hated making new proxies and he hated even more than most of the time the kids wouldn’t survive the first stage and just die but at least that was better than this. He had voiced this opinion to his teammates the night in question after Ben made a poor joke about how old everyone was getting. If he was honest, it only upset him because these people were his family now. “Got his food! Y-yo you good Jeff?” He looked over to see Toby holding the bag of dog food he had bought for Smile on his and B’s venture out and he smiled at the kid. “Fuck yeah let’s go.” He stood up to grab the other half of it and to carry it to the yard. “Smile! Wake up good boy!” Toby stuttered through crazed giggles, it did Jeff well to know he was still able to have fun with this. “Smile get your fat lazy ass up come on!” The dog lifted it’s massive head and once he saw the bag Smile got to his paws and bounded off the steps, injuries or not this boy missed his dad and wanted to play. Jeff and Toby laughed as the hell beast wagged its tail like a puppy about to get a treat. They counted down from three and tossed the bag into the air. Smile ran to leap and tear into it mid air, making it hail with kibble. Toby grabbed onto Jeff jumping and ticcing away, Jeff wrapped his arm around the boy and tried to sheild his eyes from the dog debris. As he landed Smile began to viciously tear into the bag and Jeff started making his way back to the house. “Where are you going?” Asked Toby, “to check on Nina.” was the reply and Toby nodded, “I’ll watch Smile!” “thanks,” Jeff muttered and made his way to the basement.


	18. Chapter 18

Nina woke up to something warm holding her hand as her vision focused she realized it was a dream. She chuckled lightly as Jeff came into focus “Gonna tell me to go back to sleep?”, was what the girl wanted to say but after a searing pain blasted her senses when she tried to say the first words she thought it would be best to remain silent and let the killer do his job. Instead he just gave her a concerned look, it looked more alien to her than any demon or ghost could. “Yeah, your nose got fucked up.” He said instead of his normal tagline that made up most of her dreams focusing on him, “huh,” she thought to herself, “not a dream.” She took this as the time to rat out who had done this to her, “Nat..” Was all she could manage, Jeff just nodded solemnly “Don’t strain yourself Nina.” The way he said her name, it might have been the trauma of Clockwork snapping her like a chicken bone, but it sounded like he actually felt something. She didn’t realize tears had pooled in her eyes until one fell and Jeff swiped it away with his hand, careful not to touch her swollen nose. “Look, I’m sorry.” He said and she looked at him in confusion, he hadn’t been the one to kick her face in so why the hell was he apologizing? “When we get Sally back, I want you to go.” Like leave? “I just don’t think you should have to do this anymore. Nina you should be in a Starbucks working a normal job or some shit.” He raises his hands up to brush his hair away from his face. “And… I don’t want to be the reason you get the shit kicked out of you.” “What the hell are you saying?” Nina interjected, she had no clue what he was talking about. “It’s me! I made you this! You said it yourself! You’re only in this mess because you want to be like me!” If Nina’s nose and entire body wasn’t in agonizing pain she would have laughed. “Jeff. I love you, I always have, but I am way more than just a copycat killer. How fucking dare you!” She snapped at him as jokingly as she could manage through tears, “You can’t blame yourself for things I did. That takes away how badass I am!” At that Jeff actually managed to laugh, “Sure.” “Jeff?” “Yeah Nin?” “Where am I?”   
“You’re in the basement but don’t get me off track. Nina I just. I don’t want to see you like this…” He squeezes her hand, it feels like magic and she manages a soft giggle, “Then stop letting this be the only time you’re sweet to me.” He sighs and brings her hand to his lips, she weakly smiles, stroking his cheek bones. She knows what he wants to say, she knows he doesn’t know what he wants to say, that nothing feels enough and everything is too much. But they have a family member to find and sweet moments don’t bring her back. She pinches him softly and sighs “You have to find her, please?” He cups her hand in both of his and kisses it softly enough to make her cry even harder, “I will.” She gives a breathy laugh and teases him with “Go be a sweet prince” He rolls his eyes before filling her in on the new information.


	19. Chapter 19

Upstairs Brian is laying on his fixed up bed talking to himself in his head. Trying to bait any of his alters to come forward and take credit for the room looking like a disaster zone. Trying to piece together who decided to come back to the mansion and begging them to tell him how they’re going to make money now. After an hour of asking without any answers coming back he sat up. The empty containers of pills on the nightstand told him that he’d recover and that he wouldn’t be able to feel any of his inflictions even if he wanted to. He wanted his alters to feel the consequences of their actions. Coming back here wasn’t what Brian had wanted. He wanted to get as far away from this hell house as possible. He had done fine on his own. After waking up on the floor of his old mental hospital without knowing how long he had been there or what happened he decided enough was enough. He didn’t want to find Tim. He didn’t want his old life. He didn’t want the tall man. But at the same time he didn’t know what he actually wanted either, there wouldn’t be an apartment to go back to after the time he had spent away and they knew that for certain. He jumped as the door clicked and Brian yanked down his mask to face the intruder. A familiar voice called out “It’s just me.” An unmasked man in a flannel stood before him, a face Brian had seen his whole life. The Tall Man had said they needed each other, but Brian knew his friend no longer inhabited the space between the man in front of him’s ears. “How are you feeling?” Oh shit, he sounded genuinely worried about them. What had happened between the last time he fronted and now between them? He decided it was safe to raise a shaky hand and wobble it from side to side, the man nodded. The last time Brian had tried to talk to the person before him it didn’t go so well. He’d called him Tim. Apparently his alters had not done that in a long time and it also told him his alters weren’t using Brian’s name anymore either. He kept quiet as the man sat at the foot of his bed.   
“Glad you’re up.” Brian nodded in response, he was used to roughing it but it seemed pretty idiotic to break all the furniture in a room that they had decided to bring them back to! Brian began a hate speech inside his head. Cursing anyone that could hear him. Asking them to show their god damn faces and deal with the problems they made. He knew he needed to calm down. But he hadn’t eaten, hadn’t drank anything, and hadn’t had any contact in two years according to the nightstand calendar. He was pissed that his alters kept him away from the front so long. He had a somewhat job, filming himself doing various things for people online. Was he embarrassed? His alters told him to be ashamed through notes and videos but he didn’t care. It was Brian’s life. It was Brian’s body, and he wasn’t hurting anyone. Not like they were. 

The man in front of him finally interrupted his tirade when he touched Brian’s knee. “Jeff told me you aren’t talking. How are you Brian?” A light and guilty smile spread across the man’s face. He said Brian’s name, he didn’t think that anyone would know him by that name anymore he removed the mask and smiled back at the man letting him know he got it right. “Hey.” It was the first time he had spoken to anyone in person in so long Brian’s natural voice sounded weird to himself. Usually a voice changer was involved with him interacting with people. He couldn’t trust anyone. God was he fucking tired of thinking like that.   
“How do you feel?” The man asked him snapping Brian out of his thoughts again, Brian replied “Could be better. But the pills are making everything numb and hazy.” The man nodded, “Uh, B explained some things to me about, you guys. I didn’t know you were still struggling with memory loss and all of that.” This came as a shock, his alters had actually explained their condition? That wasn’t part of the deal. Brian didn’t know how to react so he just looked away from the man. “My name is T, I’m sorry that Tim isn’t around anymore. But you gotta understand it isn’t your fault. I realize I snapped at you last time you were around.” More silence from Brian. “Look” The man continued “I just wanted to tell you everything before you lose yourself, it’s okay, we don’t go by Tim and Brian because it isn’t safe. If the others knew they could find out things about us and I just don’t feel like explaining our past to Toby. I’m sure you understand. Just know you can front around me, I just, I didn’t know you still were around. I thought you were gone.” Brian shook his head, “There’s I think three of us. One you know, the other I hope you don’t and then there’s me.” T gave his knee a comforting squeeze. “That’s crazy, Tim and I were tearing each other apart. I couldn’t imagine having more than just you and someone else.” Brian scoffed “Yeah well we can’t all be fucking lucky.” T raised his hands in surrender, hearing the hostility in Brian’s voice. “Hey, I was just letting you know about me. I figured that would be a good start to getting to know each other.” Brian looks up suddenly with a horrified expression as he realizes he doesn’t really know this man.

Hi,  
Go away.  
My name’s Tim! Why are you here?  
Shut up and go away!

All those years.

Are you scared Brian? It’s okay! I’ll protect you!

And he’s gone.

Don’t worry even guys have to ask for help, I’ll always be there to protect you.

Brian’s eyes begin to water as memories flood his brain, memories of terrible doctors, even worse patients and the little boy he knew doing anything to get them out of the hospital that wanted them dead. He realized all at once that neither of them were monsters, he remembered the diagnosis. Dissociative Identity Disorder, acute panic disorder. He’s trans and his parents were killed by the tall man that only him and Tim could see. Why did this happen? The tears started to fall and the man now known to him as T came closer to hug him close. It only makes Brian cry harder. He’s so tired of all of this, T shushes him and mumbles “We have to find Sally. But I’ll fix this Brian. I promise I’ll fix this.” Brian sniffs and thinks back. 

I’ll get us out of here Brian! No matter how many times they beat me down I’ll get us out.

Brian pushes away from T gently and shakes his head. “We’ll fix this. Fill me in.”


End file.
